Almanac for Homemakers

Dental Checkups - A Must for Young Children  "As soon as your child has cut his milk (baby) teeth, about the age of two years, it's time to plan semiannual visits to the dentist." I guess this opinion varies. I was told by a pediatrician that once the teeth come in, it's time for a dental appointment. I was told by another pediatrician that unless there were dental issues, you can wait for the first dental check up. I was told by our dentist recently that it is a good idea for my 3 year old to come to dental check ups to get used to them and see what a dentist appointment looks like. The key here is to start developing a positive attitude about seeing a dentist. This is super important because my dental appointments as a child were not positive. They were incredibly unpleasant. So unpleasant that I kept my kids from going to the dentist until they were older. I wanted them to be prepared. Thankfully they have really good teet...

Allowances for Children? "An important part of growing up is gaining experience in handling one's own money. A weekly allowance can provide this." It's definitely important for kids to start learning how to be responsible with money. If not, then they could grow up with bad spending habits. We really need to equip our kids with some real world expectations. According this Time article , the generations that are coming into adulthood will start off being buried under debt. So for now, how do we start them off with some financial experience with chores and allowances? Our almanac suggests starting off simple. You need to give them tasks that will be easy for them to handle and appropriate for their age. I kept a chore board and the tasks were things like feeding the dog, clearing the table after meals, and putting away all toys at the end of the day. Once they began to master certain tasks I gave them new ones. I would take away ...

Help Children Form Good Health Habits "Parental guidance and supervision are necessary if children are to develop good health habits. The time to begin is in the early years." One day my kids asked "Mom, what is a cavity?" They have been fortunate to have never experienced a cavity. So I grabbed a piece of paper and explained: "This is your tooth. If you don't keep it clean it gets dirty." Scribble marker on the paper "If you never clean it then germs start to eat that dirt and then they eat your tooth." STAB STAB STAB I poke holes all in the paper! "This is a cavity kids." I got the point across in a funny way. A way that I knew would stick with them. The point is that parents are responsible for guiding these habits into their children. Don't let other people teach your kids how to do things. (unless you really suck at this parenting thing) My kids wouldn't use soa...